A Month of Teaching
In the fall, the second week of September to the second week of October is prime library instruction time. In September, I was scheduled to teach 19 library instruction sessions on top of the regular 3-credit course I teach. I ended up only doing 16 because one was a workshop/tour with no attendees (side note for another post: I firmly support getting rid of all workshops and replacing them with on-demand requests. At a minimum, RSVPs people! /end rant), and two marketing classes I had to find someone else to teach because I double-booked myself when a friend came from out of state to visit.
It feels like a lot of classes - is that a lot? - a normally I would go on my merry way into October and November and December and ack! Spring!, BUT I am trying to be more reflective about my teaching. I would like to take a moment and recap what worked well, what flopped, what I would change for next time.
I taught eight upper division writing courses (because we're embedded, with a 2-class model), a human services course (because I love the instructor, even though it's outside my liaison area), a history class (which I'm also embedded in, with a 5-class model, and because I've normally worked with this class, again even though it's outside my "area", five business classes, and a freshman transition class (giving a library overview).
Here's what I thought went well:
Here's what flopped:
What I would change:
Overall, this semester went pretty smoothly. There's nothing that felt like it went poorly - just one class that had a lot of repeat students, and a writing class where the instructor got put on jury duty and told the class, so only half showed up. I think my biggest flop was online. I liked the content of my module, but my time management was off. I think my biggest growth this semester in my in-person classes was letting conversation happen, and being able to build off of student questions. For whatever reason, students were much more chatty this semester which also made everything easier.
It feels like a lot of classes - is that a lot? - a normally I would go on my merry way into October and November and December and ack! Spring!, BUT I am trying to be more reflective about my teaching. I would like to take a moment and recap what worked well, what flopped, what I would change for next time.
I taught eight upper division writing courses (because we're embedded, with a 2-class model), a human services course (because I love the instructor, even though it's outside my liaison area), a history class (which I'm also embedded in, with a 5-class model, and because I've normally worked with this class, again even though it's outside my "area", five business classes, and a freshman transition class (giving a library overview).
Here's what I thought went well:
- Asking the students what information they thought they needed in the business classes
- Giving students time to share their topics/companies/business ventures
- Asking students to look for something specific and report back
- Giving them time to do things (it feels like forever to wait 5 minutes to have them read an article or search a specialized database or answer my question, but sometimes they need even more!)
- Asking them "big picture" questions
- Being myself by telling tangential stories, bringing in humor
Here's what flopped:
- I need to book time in my calendar for online class follow-ups. I just frantically post and ghost.
- Talking too fast / moving too fast / not managing time in one case
What I would change:
- Scheduling time for online class responses.
- Using Google forms A LOT more
- Putting handouts/readings on libguides or Sakai - they all have computers!
- Not being nervous to try multimedia
- Being better at following up with their answers. Ask the students why!
- Making goals clear at the outset of the session
Overall, this semester went pretty smoothly. There's nothing that felt like it went poorly - just one class that had a lot of repeat students, and a writing class where the instructor got put on jury duty and told the class, so only half showed up. I think my biggest flop was online. I liked the content of my module, but my time management was off. I think my biggest growth this semester in my in-person classes was letting conversation happen, and being able to build off of student questions. For whatever reason, students were much more chatty this semester which also made everything easier.
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